Child Care Subsidy Program will
provide $150,000
in grants to students to care for
children

Bill and
Jennifer Gurule and son Darian prepare to leave the
North Campus Community
Center after a day of child care for Darian
and classes for his parents,
both of whom are graduate students at
the U-M.

Photo by Bob
Kalmbach

By Julie A. Peterson
News and Information
Services

Applications will be available beginning Thurs.
(Feb. 6) for a new
Child Care Subsidy Program for Students.

The
program, which will provide about $150,000 per year to assist
U-M student
parents with child-care expenses, was approved by the
Regents in November.
Half of the funding will come from the General
Fund and half from a
$1-per-term student fee approved by the students
last spring.

An
oversight committee, chaired by Vice President for Student
Affairs Maureen
Hartford and including student members, is developing
eligibility criteria
for the awards.

The applications will be for child care expenses for
the winter
term, currently running through April. A total of about $60,000
will
be available to students to assist with winter-term expenses. All
U-M
students, including undergraduate, graduate, professional and
special
students, as well as international students and those
enrolled
part-time at the University, may apply for the awards, says
Margaret
Rodriguez, interim associate director of the Office of Financial
Aid.

"We will consider anyone who's enrolled at any level, but
because
of funding limitations we may have to give priority to those
students
enrolled half-time or greater," Rodriguez notes.

Leslie de
Pietro, coordinator of the Family Care Resources Program
and a member of a
University task force on child care, encourages all
students with child
care needs to apply for the subsidies, even
though she acknowledges that
the amount of funds available will not
be enough to assist all those who
need it. "One of the challenges for
the task force is to document the need
for child care assistance on
campus," she says. "This application process
is an important way for
us to gather data about the needs of student
parents, even though
funding currently is not sufficient to meet those
needs."

The awards, up to $1,000 per term for students enrolled at
least
half-time and up to $500 per term for those enrolled less
than
half-time, will be based upon financial need. Child care
expenses
must be for children 12 years old and younger, or children up to
19
years of age with documented special needs. Care must be provided by
a
licensed or registered day care provider.

In addition to completing an
application, students will need to
have a Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA) on file and
submit copies of their 1995 federal income
tax return. If they have
not filed the FAFSA for the 1996-97 academic
year, they must do so as
soon as possible, Rodriguez says. The fastest way
to file the FAFSA
is to download it from the World Wide
Web
(http://inet.ed.gov/offices/OPE/express.html) and submit
it
electronically. International students should file the FAFSA
directly
with the Office of Financial Aid.

Deadline for submitting
both the child care subsidy applications
and the FAFSA is Feb. 21. Because
the application process is just
getting under way, Rodriguez says, the
awards for winter term will be
made retroactively with notification
expected by mid-April. Future
awards are expected to be made much earlier
in the term, she adds.

Applications may be picked up at the Office of
Financial Aid, 2011
Student Activities Building; Family Care Resources,
715 N.
University, second floor; Office of Student Recruitment and
Support,
160 Rackham Building; or at 172 Rackham Building. For
more
information, call the Office of Financial Aid, 763-6600, or
send
e-mail to finaid@umich.edu.

The Child Care Task Force is now
looking at the broader needs of
the entire University community, including
faculty and staff, says de
Pietro. It is expected to present a final
report and recommendations
to the Regents sometime this
fall.